Elizabeth Bustle

Lean manufacturing is a practice that works to eliminate waste in the production process and carefully focus all resources on producing the desired product or outcome most efficiently. An outgrowth of the long-standing human concern with improving efficiency, modern efforts to improve and reduce unnecessary cost increasingly depend on strategic planning, careful attention to timing and analysis of data. Ingersoll Rand’ Mocksville, North Carolina plant is currently assessing and implementing lean manufacturing strategies in its production of air compressors. Ms. Bustle will learn about this highly-utilized practice as she is introduced to the total manufacturing process from order entry through delivery to the customer. She will learn how lean manufacturing is implemented in industry, evaluate the impact of lean manufacturing on the smooth function of the system as a whole and be able to demonstrate the engineering and mathematical principles used to streamline resource use and create efficient best practices in manufacturing. This knowledge will be developed into engaging lessons that bring systemic thinking into the classroom and encourage students to apply these methods to relevant projects of their own.